Tag: death by distribution
Havelock woman extradited from Pennsylvania on death by distribution charge
Read the original article on the WNCT News9 website.
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) — Detectives with the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office extradited a woman from Pittsburgh, Pa. in connection to a drug overdose death.
Aryanna Marquise Carter, 29, of Havelock, was charged in connection to the death of Tyler Lee Hall, 22, of Newport, in April of 2021.
Hall died from methamphetamine and fentanyl toxicity. Carter was arrested May 5, 2024 in Pennsylvania on an unrelated weapon charge.
Carter is charged with selling and delivering a schedule II controlled substance and felony death by distribution. Carter was jailed in the Carteret County Detention Center under a $470,000 bond.
Arrest Made in Fatal Overdose Case
New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office: Death by Distribution
Statesville Resident Charged with Death by Distribution
Two arrested in connection with Riley Goolishian’s fentanyl death in Beaufort
Beaufort, NC — Two men are now behind bars in connection with the death of a 25-year-old woman following a joint investigation, according to the Beaufort Police Department.
Officials say 26-year-old Ladavion Vontrell Manning of Morrisville and 24-year-old Kevin Crishawn Milliken of Apex are facing second-degree murder, death by distribution and the sale and delivery of Schedule II controlled substances.
Manning was taken into custody at his Morrisville home on May 2, 2025 and was also charged with sale and delivery of fentanyl. He remains jailed at the Carteret County Detention Center under a $750,000 bond.
On Tuesday, June 3 officials arrested Milliken in Chatham County. He also faces separate charges in Chatham County, including felony possession of cocaine, maintaining a vehicle or dwelling, possession of drug paraphernalia and simple possession of a schedule IV-controlled substance. Milliken remains in jail in Chatham County under a $1 million bond and will be transported to Carteret County for trial proceedings.
These arrests come after an investigation into the death of Riley Goolishian, who was found in her Beaufort home back on May 26 of 2024 unresponsive. Authorities say she died a day later at Carteret Health Care in Morehead City. It was confirmed her cause of death was fentanyl and cocaine toxicity through autopsy and toxicology findings.
The joint investigation determined that both Manning and Milliken sold fentanyl and cocaine to Goolishian the day prior to her being found unresponsive.
The investigating agencies include the Beaufort Police Department, Carteret County Sheriff’s Office and the NC SBI.
Beaufort Police Chief Paul Burdette stated, “This case represents a coordinated effort by multiple law enforcement agencies to bring justice in the face of a heartbreaking loss. We remain committed to pursuing those who distribute dangerous and illegal substances in our communities.”
New Bern woman charged in drug overdose death in Pamlico County
PAMLICO COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – A New Bern woman is accused of giving drugs to a man who later died from an overdose.
Pamlico County deputies have charged Stephanie Nelson with death by distribution.
Back on February 10, 2024, deputies say they were called to a home on Old Bay River Road outside of Gransboro for a man’s death.
Warrants say Nelson sold fentanyl to Damian Nobles, causing his death. An obituary said the Bayboro man was 22 years old.
The 24-year-old Nelson remains in jail on a $500,000 secured bond.
Bond set at $200,000 for NC man charged with brother’s death
Police charge Matthew Porter with his brother’s death after giving him fentanyl.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A man was charged with the death of his brother on Wednesday after police said he gave him fentanyl.
Police arrested Matthew Glenn Porter, 37, in relation to an overdose investigation into the death of his brother Jeffrey Allen Porter, 38.
Jefferey was found unresponsive in his home back in Sept. 2024. He was taken to the hospital where he later died, according to police. The Medical Examiner ruled he died by overdose.
In an arrest warrant obtained by WFMY News 2, police said Matthew gave Jeffery the fentanyl.
Matthew was charged with one count of death by distribution and has a $200,000 bond.
North Carolina attorney general targets popular texting app linked to fentanyl crisis
Read the original article and watch the video on the WECT website.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) – North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson is cracking down on a popular texting app that he says is helping fuel the fentanyl epidemic.
In a Monday announcement, Jackson and five other attorneys general said they’ve sent a letter to the leaders of the app “WeChat” for allegedly playing a role in fentanyl money laundering.
“We wanna hit the cartels where it hurts,” Jackson told WECT. “And where it hurts is this money laundering, this digital pipeline that has opened up.”
The Chinese-based app, with over a billion users around the world and thousands in North Carolina, is designed to support encrypted communication between people, and also has an integrated payment system. But criminals are using that payment system, Jackson said, to launder drug money.
WeChat is at the center of a triangle of criminal activity between the United States, China, and cartels, Jackson said. The cartels move fentanyl into the U.S., and the sales money then goes to China. Laundered money and goods then move “discreetly” from China back to the cartels, Jackson said, with communication and money transfers often going through WeChat.
“The motive for most crime is money. If you want to reduce the crime, you reduce the money. The way we reduce the money here is focusing on WeChat,” he said.
The attorney general said he’s given WeChat 30 days to identify potential solutions to the issue. The app has “yet to adequately address the exploitation of its platform by criminal actors,” the announcement said.
A comment request from a WeChat representative wasn’t immediately returned.
“We want them to do enough to change the reputation that WeChat has, because right now, WeChat has a reputation as a safe haven for facilitating money laundering,” Jackson said.
The fentanyl crisis has affected communities around the state and country; with roughly six per day, overdoses from the drug are now the leading cause of death for people under the age of 45 in North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Department of Justice.
Monday’s announcement also cited several recent investigations and criminal cases that involved WeChat being used in fentanyl-related money laundering:
- “The 2021 conviction of Xizhi Li, who managed an international criminal network using WeChat to coordinate bulk cash transfers between Chinese banks and drug cartels.
- Operation Chem Capture (2023), in which eight companies and 12 individuals were indicted for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals, with transactions coordinated through WeChat.
- Collaboration between Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Chinese laundering networks, which regularly use WeChat to facilitate cash pickups, currency swaps, and repatriation of drug proceeds.
- A recent 2024 federal indictment in South Carolina, charging three defendants with using WeChat to communicate in order to launder proceeds from fentanyl sales as part of an international conspiracy.”